THE NEW YORKER six months' course In the bush school on how to avoid hurting people's feelings, learning the hard way, and he clearly didn't want to tell Warren that he found this collection of masterpieces chosen from the whole African conti- nent pretty poor stuff. In the end, though, Warren got him to express his opinion. "I no see the use for these things," he said. It soon developed that non-Liberian African art was as extrav- agant-as grotesque, even-to him as African art as a whole is to the average untutored Westerner. He was simply unable to see what purpose these dis- torted objects could serve, and the idea of art for art's sake was completely un- known to him. He flipped over the pages of the book, making a wel1-bred effort to disguise his contempt. None of these objects could be employed in his own tribal ceremonies, as they were use- less-and ugly. He was like a diehard admirer of representationa] painting asked to comment on the work of, say, Braque. The point was that his own work, which both '\AT arren and I readily accepted as great Negro art, was just as exaggerated and distorted in its own way as al1 the examples in the book. Except, of course, that his diversions from purely representational portraiture all had some quasi-sacred meaning for him. Warren had managed to buy a single mask from this man. He had made it to be worn by a leader of the women's society, who for some reason had not taken delivery. The mask was kept out of sight, covered with a cloth. It was dangerous, because it was sacrile- gious to have it in the house, and It was destined for an American museum if the Liherian government didn't sudden- ly decide to clamp down on the export of works of art. The village of the mask carver was the cleanest "native" village I have seen in any part of the world, and very much cleaner than the average village of southern Europe. Silvery sand had been spread between the neatly woven huts, and there were receptacles into which litter-even fallen leaves-had to be put. In this village, I heard the eerie sounds of the head woman bush devIl coming out of the sacred bush for a rare public appearance. We could hear the cries of her female attendants, first faInt and then comIng closer, as she moved down the jungle path leading to the village, and a neIghbor popped in to tell us that she was on her way to supervise the clearing of a creek by the Sande. Then something happened and she failed to appear. Perhaps she had been informed of the unsalubrious pres- SCOTlAND'S B S'r nlSl1Uil\iS PRODUCE THIS QUALity SCOTCH WHISK1 YSM\I .... t . _ -f -- ' '. - = - ::: -= =- - == w=- = , -J, = ,;cj - , þlltTltð'1\ Scollðnd 6nd Bott l 4ld '" IlIt \(Inqdom "I\der<.ovf'nment CUTTY SARK -6 BLE NDED SCOTS WHISKY IOOy. Seo\eh Wh,S)(ieS '.... ScotW\cß best Pi.ttUent' ð6 Prcor 41s Ou'" a t. ""ttl"" .. ..... "lI,3n1'Y 1tt1 BEUy 8RÕ'''&'''lUÐÐ .............. -- tII 3 It J."'f S $'rUff. LOIIfO't P,...cI 97 BLENDED SCOTS WHISKY 86 PROOF IMPORTED IY THE BUCKINGHAM CORPORATION ROCKEFELLER CENTER NEW YORK YOUR TURN TO ENTERTAIN? Pure theatre: dinner-in,..the- round,. George Nelson designs this la.zy-susan toble for moderns who like help-yourself dramotics 1 the incandescence of whiteMicarta@ with Rosewo d. HERMAN U ILLER Furniture Company, Zeeland, Michigan Showrooms: New York, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Grand Rapids, Kansas City, Los Angeles, and Hende-Jon, Pittsburgh; KIP Showroom, San Francisco; Robert Le Fort & Company, Inc., Philadelphia; Midwest Furniture Showrooms, Minneapolis In Canada, 1063 Howe Street, Vancouver, also Hille of London, England and Contura S.A., Zurich, Switzerland. ;.:-. -", - I"IPOI:KD rJ( t U"'Tt!> ST"T(5 O' _AI'-" " '::, 4 $.1 P:1\ (# \iii 0'"